head to head · open source
chromium vs Helium
chromium has 25,235 GitHub stars, 9,398 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped today. Helium has 22,337 stars, 683 forks, 490 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. chromium leads on adoption by 13% (25,235 vs 22,337 stars). chromium is written in various languages under BSD-3-Clause; Helium is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. chromium has attracted 37% as many forks as stars, Helium 3%. chromium was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (browser, chromium), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| chromium | Helium | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 22K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | — | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.4K | ⑂ 683 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick chromium if
- You weight community size — 25K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Helium if
- You want the Helium feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Helium fits your workflow better
About chromium
Chromium Chromium is an open source browser project that aims to build a safer, faster, and more stable way for all users to experience the web. The project's web site is To check out the source code locally, don't use git clone ! Instead, follow the instructions on how to get the code. Documentation in the source is rooted in docs/README.md. Learn how to Get Around the Chromium Source Code Directory Structure. For historical reasons, there are some small top level directories. Now the guidance is that new top level directories are for product (e.g. Chrome, Android WebView, Ash). Even if these products have…
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About Helium
Helium The Chromium based web browser made for people, with love. Privacy first with unbiased ad blocking. No bloat and no noise. helium.computer Downloads [!NOTE] Helium is currently in beta, so unexpected issues may occur. Please report them if they haven't already been reported. The easiest way to download Helium is helium.computer. It'll pick a compatible binary for your platform automatically. The same releases can also be downloaded from source on GitHub: Latest macOS release Latest Linux release Latest Windows release Helium repos All Helium packaging, tooling, services, and components are open source and…
read the full Helium overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is chromium or Helium more popular?
chromium has 25,235 GitHub stars and Helium has 22,337. chromium has the larger community by that measure.
Are chromium and Helium free?
Both are open source. chromium is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Helium under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chromium and Helium?
chromium is written in various languages and Helium in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, chromium or Helium?
Choose chromium if you want the larger community (25,235 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose Helium if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.